


Keeping the Smartest Man Happy

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Comment Fic 2016 [19]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 15:39:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7058662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Stargate Atlantis, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, It takes Rodney half a dozen presents before he gets it - the presents are John's way of asking him out."</p><p>True fact: the very first piece of McShep I ever wrote.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keeping the Smartest Man Happy

When Sheppard brought him a cup of coffee - the real kind, genuine Kona blend, not the swill Lorne and the other military types drank - Rodney thanked him with, "See? Even the most dim-witted understand. Survival depends on keeping the smartest man happy." Most of this he directed at Zelenka, who had refused to share some home-baked cookies someone had sent from Earth.  
  
Sheppard sighed and said, "You're welcome, Rodney," and walked away.  
  
A couple of days later, Sheppard brought Rodney some of those home-baked cookies from Earth. Lorne's girlfriend sent a share for everyone she considered one of Lorne's friends, and they were highly coveted. Of course she would have sent extra for Sheppard.  
  
Rodney was late for dinner a week later and dismayed to discover that all the desserts save the lemon meringue pie were gone. Teyla was finishing off what looked like a slice of pumpkin pie, and Ronon was all but licking his plate clean when Rodney went to sit with them.  
  
"Where's Sheppard?"  
  
"Elizabeth needed him for something. Haven't seen him yet," Ronon said, and then he was gone.  
  
Rodney sighed and prodded his potatoes, and Teyla vanished.  
  
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?" Sheppard sat opposite Rodney with a tray full of food. He levered a plate with a slice of pumpkin pie onto Rodney's tray and then tucked into his own lemon meringue.  
  
Rodney raised an eyebrow.  
  
Sheppard shrugged. "Life is short. Eat dessert first."  
  
Rodney considered his tray for a moment, then pushed the potatoes aside in favor of the pie. "I thought there was none left."  
  
"Lorne's marines are on KP tonight. They like me," was all Sheppard said.  
  
"Of course they do," Rodney muttered. "Kirk."  
  
Rodney was in the lab three days later, despairing over the incompetence of Zelenka's underlings, when a sandwich appeared at his elbow. Sheppard appeared with it, munching on his own sandwich.  
  
Rodney eyed it warily. "Does it have lemon juice on it or something?"  
  
"Of course not." Sheppard nudged the plate closer to Rodney. "I'm one of the most dim-witted, and I want to survive." He grinned and walked away.  
  
Rodney checked the sandwich before he ate it. It was good. Reminded him of home, of the way his grandma had made turkey sandwiches. Jeannie made her sandwiches that way, too. How had the KP marines known?  
  
Rodney fired off an email to Jeannie for the weekly data burst, asked about her family, and also did she still make turkey sandwiches the way Grandma did?  
  
Two weeks later, when the reply came, Rodney was baffled by the odd postscript to Jeannie's email. _Yes. John asked me how._ What did that even mean?

Rodney pushed it aside, because the Daedalus was coming, and what Rodney wanted off the Daedalus, more than anything, was the brand new laptop Carter had customized for him. He couldn't wait to get his hands on it. Jackson had uploaded some new spiffy Ancient language interface, plus there were some Asgard modifications on it.

But he couldn't find it. None of the moronic airmen - airheads! - who crewed the Daedalus knew what he was talking about, let alone what it was. Rodney stormed for Elizabeth's office, ready to give her a piece of his mind about the incompetence about America's armed forces - and there was Sheppard, with a box in his arms.

The box was labeled Dr. M. Rodney McKay.

Rodney pounced on it. "Can your underlings even read? The name on the box is mine, not yours."

Sheppard stepped back, let Rodney cradle the box to his chest. "Yes. They can read. I was going to bring it to you."

"No need. I've got it. Stay here. Teach your underlings my name."

"Oh, we already know it," one of the airmen said.

Sheppard glared at her, and she fell silent. Rodney paused, puzzled by the woman's smirk, then turned and headed for the lab.

The new laptop was beautiful, amazing, like a gift from the gods - only gods weren't real, they were aliens, most of them cruel and oppressive - and Rodney was lost in the wonders of all the new brilliant things he could accomplish with this piece of hybrid technology. He didn't sleep, he didn't eat, he just worked and worked and worked --

Until a sandwich appeared at his elbow. "Eat, Rodney. Before you die and leave us all to die," Sheppard said.

Rodney blinked. Another turkey sandwich. Just like the kind grandma used to make, that Jeannie still made.

That John had asked about.

John. John Sheppard. Standing beside Rodney, gazing at him with calm amusement. Offering him sandwiches that tasted like the best parts of his childhood.

Rodney spluttered. "You - you! Are you wooing me?"

Sheppard sighed. "Rodney, I'm in the Air Force. We have this thing called _Don't ask, don't tell_."

"Oh. I...you _are_ wooing me."

"But, since you're smarter than me, you can tell me anything you like," Sheppard said.

Rodney fumbled for the sandwich. "I don't -- I --"

Sheppard bit into his own sandwich, gestured at the new laptop in a dangerous spray of breadcrumbs. "So, what are you working on?"

The change of subject was enough to give a man whiplash. "I'm reconfiguring the main life support systems to -- do you actually care?"

The heat that flashed in Sheppard's eyes made Rodney re-evaluate every time he'd briefed Sheppard and the team on the technological aspects of a recon mission.

So Rodney explained what he was working on, and afterwards he listened to Sheppard talk about why he liked Johnny Cash, and a couple of weeks later, he let Zelenka watch one of his experiments for the night so he could accompany Sheppard on a jumper trip to the mainland.


End file.
